1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling movement of robot, a mobile robot and a computer program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some movable navigation robots have been developed recently to guide persons in premises. The movable navigation robots generally have a map of an environment where the robots travel, and create a path along which the robots travel based on the map. JP-A 2005-288628 (KOKAI), for example, discloses a robot that creates a circuit path based on data and path data stored in advance, and travels along the circuit path.
However, in the technique disclosed in JP-A 2005-288628 (KOKAI), it takes a considerable time for a user to input the map data and the path data. To solve the problem, JP-A 2005-339408 (KOKAI) discloses an improved technique for enabling a robot to automatically create the map data. According to the improved technique, the person can save the time for inputting the map data to the robot.
However, even with the improved technique, a map including all required places can not be created, which makes it difficult for the robot to guide a person to an appropriate path.